Page 48 of Postpartum Spells & Infant Hells

"It's certainly possible. I'm not gambling our kids on a maybe." I held his eyes, refusing to drop them. "We need you to help others. You can stand between it and our babies. If you come with me and I'm right, we could lose everything. You know everyone here would die to protect them."

"You want me to hold babies while you walk toward the thing that swore they were already his." His forehead dropped to mine.

I tipped my face up until my mouth brushed his. "He's got exactly one move that will break me, and you take it off the board. I’ve got this. We’re good at being the knife. You can hate every second of it. I don't care. Just stand between him and them, should the worst happen."

"Why are you always right? Gods, I hate this." He pressed his lips hard to my forehead like he could leave something there that would protect me. "Go end it. Then come home. Don't make me find out which half I can't survive losing."

"I kinda hope he comes after us." Nana scooped her shotgun back up. "We’ve got a dragon on our side. I like our chances better."

That barked a laugh out of me as I gathered all three of my babies one more time and pressed my face to each cheek before I handed them to Nina, Mom, and Jean-Marc. After kissing my older kids’ cheeks, I stepped back fast, before the leaving could undo me.

“I’ll come into the dark and drag you out myself if you make me,” Tarja warned me.

“I have no plans of getting lost in there,” I assured her.

Aidon grabbed me up and wrapped me in his arms. By the time I pulled away, Hades had already carved a door beside the broken back window. The morning light bent into a corridor of cold that smelled like cigarettes and urine.

"I can't follow you in, so be fast," he reminded me, his hand never leaving the seam he was holding open. "I will stand here as long as it takes. Don’t make me linger. Persephone has a can of whipped cream waiting for my return.”

“I did not need to know that,” I lamented before I told my family I loved them.

"On three. Don’t let go of my hand till we're standing on something solid," Stella announced and then grabbed my fingers. She didn’t give me more time to get sad and say goodbye. She pulled me through as she counted.

My kitchen fell away, replaced by a dim, sullen dark realm. The ground gave way under my boots. It was as if it had never held weight before.

"Stick to the edges,” Layla advised. “The middle won’t be as sound.”

“I’ll try to stabilize the ground,” Stella offered, then whispered a spell.

Layla nodded and dropped low. "Where is he hurt?" She began tracking the huge, coiled shape at the center of everything.

There was a silver seam in its side that was pulsing slowly. Pressure slammed into my skull before I could respond. Having the ancient attention swing my way sucked the big one. Sucking in a breath, I forced myself to focus.

"The hit is low, on the left,” I ground out. “There's a split. That’s why it's keeping the side turned away from us.”

“It’s not even looking at us,” Stella observed. “It only sees Phoebe."

"Maybe it's about to do something stupid. It would give us a way in," Layla replied as she circled the creature.

The second he saw my face, he quit caring about the three of us and tried to claw his way back down the corridor. A wave of silver poured past us to the door Hades was holding.

"Aidon's got them, the wall's up, the wards are holding," Stella assured me.

I felt my mate’s shadows roar into a black wall at the threshold. The house wards flared white. And my family created a physical wall.

"His whole guard is gone! He’s spending everything reaching for the babies." My voice cracked right down the middle as I realized he was going to try to grab them while we stood there. Maybe this had been his plan all along.

"That's the slip, and he handed it to us for free." Stella's shout cracked across the dark. "Drive your claws into the seam. Now, before he remembers we're here."

Whipping my daggers out, I began moving at the same time Layla did. Every bit of fire I possessed came up at once and poured into the split in his side. It was white-hot and aimed the way I'd watched Nina aim hers. Normally, I threw my witch fire out there and let it go. This time, I directed it precisely. We had to stop him before he got through. Stella's pink fire threaded in beside my flame, doubling the ferocity.

"Don't you dare ease up, it's tearing wider instead of closing." Stella stood next to me, her strike never wavering. "Hold the fire."

I poured everything I had into my attack. It didn’t take long before my knees threatened to buckle. Stella caught me before I landed on my face. I’d used too much too fast.

"There's nothing left in me to hold, Stella." The words were ragged as they scraped out of me.

"Of course, there is. You’re the strongest witch alive. Stop letting a little dizziness turn you into a pessimist." She wrapped her arm around my back. "You’ve already widened the wound. Don't you dare stop."